Designed and constructed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects this 5-foot bookcase/tower is called The Ark and is part of the V&A museum’s 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition. In this clip, architect Dagur Eggertsson discusses the Scandinavian influence on his architectural practice and the inspiration behind the concept of ‘Ark’. Later he compares the structure to “a giant Ikea bookcase” — except you can live inside this one. Images/video after the jump. [via Ask Nicola, via ShelfAwareness]

Transcript:

Dagur Eggertsson: Rintala Eggertsson started two and a half years ago in Norway. I think there is a Scandinavian element in our work definitely. We conceive our ideas from our existence.

Bodø is the main town North of Norway is far above the Arctic Circle so there is no sunlight for two months but it’s very close to nature and it’s really a fantastic place to visit and an inspiration.

It’s the book store and the library on the second floor, so we wanted to connect those two parts of the museum with a book tower so that you could read the continuity from the stored books to the books that are sold and become eventually a part of every people’s life out there.

The tower is a bookcase in itself, the first thing you meet is the white backside of the books and they don’t reveal themselves until you get to the inside where you get the spine of the book. I think it is important for us to show that architecture is not a mystical thing but it’s about putting one stick on top of the other like every small child does in the beginning of their life.